∞ probes?

[CMDR-AD]

I can see how probes might expire after some time (session exit). Mining probes do this.

Regarding infinite probes, I feel it unfortunate that this new exploration gameplay brings no ties to existing mechanics such as Synthesis, no ties with the new USS system, no resource/ship management aspects.

To be clear, not something I fault Frontier for. As they said in the live stream, they are listening to their player base.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

It does look that way. I’m ok with it though. Think of it this way:
You fire off a probe, it says: I am cover this much territory. It doesn’t do anything else yet though, as it’s waiting for the next probe in the network. You fire off the next probe, same thing, until you have full coverage. Then they all send their results together, showing you the neat things to be found.

Sort of like buying at Atlas of England, without any maps of London... it’s not quite useful until you have all the parts.

I hate London and never drive there so I am fine with that

 

[who?]

It does look that way. I’m ok with it though. Think of it this way:
You fire off a probe, it says: I am cover this much territory. It doesn’t do anything else yet though, as it’s waiting for the next probe in the network. You fire off the next probe, same thing, until you have full coverage. Then they all send their results together, showing you the neat things to be found.

Sort of like buying at Atlas of England, without any maps of London... it’s not quite useful until you have all the parts.

Oh, I'm very good at filling in gaps with copious dollops of handwavium. It does seem a bit of a silly way to design probes ("Let's fire 20, and when all are in place THEN they start working. Very wasteful. But then again, we have INFINITE PROBES!)

More to the point though, it takes any possibility of skill out of the game. Instead of looking for any surface features which might look interesting, you're just spamming the entire area with probes until you hit 90%.

 

[askavir]

That would be my guess. IIRC, from watching the demo, no surface locations were revealed until the planet was "100%" (well, 90+%) mapped.

I think it's not ideal. If you scan 10%, and that happens to include the site you're looking for, it should show that site. It's a bit silly having to scan another 80+% just to reveal something in an area you've already mapped, surely?

Noticed that too, that was a bit weird. You can hit a POI in the head with one of the probes, but they will only show all at once after you map the entire planet.

I guess it doesn't really matter, with the probes being infinite, being able to map the entire planet is always 100% guaranteed anyway.

 

[tridentfiend]

To keep things balanced, is it possible to lunch the probes from the ship, scan the body; and when done return to ship!? just saying... let the dev's slug it out some more!

 

[who?]

Noticed that too, that was a bit weird. You can hit a POI in the head with one of the probes, but they will only show after you map the entire planet, like some kind of "completion achievement" unlock...

I guess it doesn't really matter, with the probes being infinite, being able to map the entire planet is always 100% guaranteed anyway.

True! The only downside is - there's no real skill to searching. No point in trying to eyeball interesting areas to scan. Merely get 90% coverage, then everything appears.

 

[Stigbob]

Wait a sec...

Why is everyone bothered with the impact on Non-Horizons players?

They are not supposed to have access to Beyond contents!

And Beyond is not purchasable anyway!

Just to clarify there, I'm not bothered by that at all I do think its probably a good idea for FDEV to be though.

 

[askavir]

True! The only downside is - there's no real skill to searching. No point in trying to eyeball interesting areas to scan. Merely get 90% coverage, then everything appears.

Yeah, that's what I said too a couple dozen pages back... All the effort the devs had on making the probe launching taking gravity, fire angle etc into account is a bit wasted if we can simply carpet bomb the planet with probes and get the goodies 100% guaranteed.

Anyway I'm glad to see the end of manually eyeballing planets, exploration becomes more interesting if we get to see something new and/or cool every once and a while. I would have preferred to have a very high probe ammo count, so I would have a reason every once and a while to go down and hop on the SRV on a long journey, but the argument about the non-horizons players is strong as well. I just think infinite probes ends up completely devaluing the entire probe launching mechanic, makes it completely futile, might as well have a single probe launched per planet and get the entire planet scanned in one go, or just use some surface scanner instead and forget the whole probes thing altogether.

 

[Strangepork]

But mah' immersion!!!

Yes but what type of infinity are they?


So, the banter goes,

at FD... 'we'll make them hold about 200 probes, and they can be engineered for more capacity, ooh ooh, and resources for more of them can be found on planets'.

an Explorer, 'if you loose all your SRV you won't be able to resupply anymore'.

FD, ' oh!'.

 

[zarking]

Infinite probes for the win
Let's be honest,, it's not like we need any more reason for gathering materials, half my game play time is gathering materials, I'm kind of at saturation point with that already....

Though I'm up for synthesizing a new srv if that ever becomes a thing

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

If you have infinite probes then any skill element is removed - just spam them until you have complete coverage.
At which point the only difference between firing one probe and having the entire planet scanned and firing multiple probes is the amount of time spent doing it.

That would fall under the common definition of 'grind'.

 

[Old Duck]

If you have infinite probes then any skill element is removed - just spam them until you have complete coverage.

There is no "if" - this is what we are getting, as I seriously doubt Frontier will change it yet again before launch.

Though there was the KWS change in the last hour.... However, that change had almost unanimous community support, whereas I sense more players actually prefer infinite probes (or in my case, "pings") than not.

 

[DaggerSnake]

Infinite baseline probes are fine. A little gamey, but it solves issues. It does take player agency away though. I like resource management in games, especially when you are on your own making descisions.

Why can’t we just have synthesis to make better probes if we want to? They talked about engineering making more probes shot at once or better coverage. Just move that to probe synthesis.

 

[Frank Craft]

We're getting infinite probes. Get over it.

Good.

 

[Old Duck]

We're getting infinite probes. Get over it.

Your quote along with your avatar is gonna give me nightmares!!!

 

[Lestat]

There is no "if" - this is what we are getting, as I seriously doubt Frontier will change it yet again before launch.

Just remember they did change Instant shipping ships Point A to B and changed it. So it takes time to ship a ship to Point A to B.

So I hope frontier listen to players concerns and make it work for us.

Infinite baseline probes are fine. A little gamey, but it solves issues. It does take player agency away though. I like resource management in games, especially when you are on your own making descisions.

A little too gamey for me. That why I rather have people talk about a way around the infinite lame idea.

We're getting infinite probes. Get over it.

Good.

Well you can go play Minecraft which has the creative mode. Which suite your gameplay.

 

[DaggerSnake]

A little too gamey for me. That why I rather have people talk about a way around the infinite lame idea.

The infinite ammo on UI needs to be removed. Using that term on screen is an issue for anyone who nit-picks. It doesn’t need to be there. We just need an understanding that, a ship has a supply of probes that will always be adequate for a play session.

What about tying probes to ship module status? Create a new probe module in the ship status tab for tracking condition. It becomes damaged with use, time, heat/radiation exposure. It can be repaired with synthesis or amfs (sp?). As it wears you begins to get misfires, or shots that are off target. That way smart flying, heat management and repairing are tied to probe functions. Player agency.

 

[CMDR MICHAEL AAGAARD]

I think FDev should just get rid of the ∞ and not change anything else.


Also to the people that try to compare unlimited probes to the ship transfer, moving a fully combat fitted Corvette or cutter instantly over 20k ly is not the same even in terms of "immersion" (also the reason why most people voted for delayed ship transfer was not due to "immersion" sure that was some the voted that way with "immersion" in mind but most people did with game balance in mind. I voted with both game balance in mind and also due to delayed being cheaper than instant and never with "immersion" in mind as the reason for my vote towards delayed)

 

[Frank Craft]

Well you can go play Minecraft which has the creative mode. Which suite your gameplay.

I don't play Minecraft. I play Elite Dangerous which will have infinite probes. Pal.

 

[SiriusStrider]

To avoid infinite probes, maybe allow synthesis from fuel?

You could give the scanner a store for 500 probes, and change the fuel scoop such that it automatically synthesizes a probe for every 10kg scooped.